Delivery Set-Up

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How long is a sterile delivery set-up good for? I'm not sure what our policy is because I've heard so many different things. I think it may be 4 hours wet and 8 hours dry. 8 hours seems like way too long to leave a sterile set-up. What's your policy?

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Sterile set ups are colonized 1 hr after opening. Even if covered, The bad stuff already landed. Wet or dry doesn't matter. Air is humid. Bacteria doesn't require much. Why do OR's have strict policy on room temp & humidity. True, vag dels are "dirty". But do OR's treat their dirty cases with the same lack of sterile technique? Pt's first! Not our convenience of having to not hurry. I don't want to take the chance to send home my pts. with a nosocomial infection. My pt. could be your friend, sister, or even you. Pt's first. That's why we have a job. I've had time to set up a table for an immediate delivery. I know I will have time to set up a table for an induction,too.

vaginal delivery tables are set up in our LDRs as needed, usually 10" to 1 hr before use. (ex. I can set up the table on an epidural'd primip when she is +2 station...but I might set it up when my multip is 8cms.)

IF we have a CROWD wandering around the birthing room, we try to open the table as close to the delivery as possible! (ex. pt had about 8 family members in room...someone brought them some lunch after the table was opened, and the dad-to-be set his sandwich down on the delivery setup table...even after being told to not touch it!)

our c/s are opened as the pt moves into the OR and not before! Period! In cases of "crashes" we have a special sterile tray of basic instruments that lays directly on the mayo stand, is opened & ready to "go" in seconds!

Wow! For a minute there,Hazek, I thought we worked together. Only at where I work now have I seen the same practice. Where do you work? If I decide to have another ( already have 4 but wanting a girl really, really bad), and I'm near Nevada, I'll make sure I deliver where you're at. I'll know that I won't get an infection from my delivery there or where I work. If anyone's in Fl, I work at a wonderful place. A place filled with caring nurses who know how to work as a team and think about their patients. (well, I'm speaking about the night shift. Don't know about the day shift. Yet.) And we're building a new facility. If anyone wants to know, let me know. Funny, I think I also had the same dad who placed his McD's on the opened delivery table. I also had a grandma place her camera where she knew she'd be able to reach it- you guessed it, on the delivery table,too!

They used to tell us 8 hours but that is ridiculous if the table is in a room that isn't used, and covered with a sterile cloth. As a night nurse I ALWAYS set a table "just in case", because we have essentially no staff and , in any case, there is always that person who comes in fully....If I know there is to be an induction or two in the morning and I have time, I also set at least one more up..In the past, when the policy was to leave them up 8 hours only, and certain day people would tell me they wanted me to take it down, I have to admit I would simply tell them I set it a little later than I actually did...I notice that despite what they felt "My" table would still be up when I came on the next night....Now we leave them up 24 hours, and when one isn't automatically set, as when I am on, they are really spoiled. It was always a joke but I have trained the night staff to do it, and being the "witch" on the unit, they usually listen to me.....

It would be lovely to set these tables up just before delivery, but we do not have the staff or the time to do it when we are really busy....We will use an emergency delivery kit ( one in each birthing room and labor room), and if we have set up tables, they are placed in the OR until, masked and gloved, we retrieve them...A pt is much less likely to get a nosocomial infection from one of those tables than walking down the hall in most hospitals....We just don't add the betadine or sterile water until we are at the actual delivery....Last I heard, for a dry table, OSHA says 24 hours....